Are We Over Criminalizing ‘Adolescent Love’? Justice Jasmeet Singh Flags Issues Concerning POCSO Act

Justice Jasmeet Singh on Saturday said that the issue of criminalization of “adolescent love” under the POCSO Act needs to be addressed. The Delhi High Court judge also highlighted various issues pertaining to the enactment.  

“Are we over criminalizing the adolescent love? This is an issue which, according to me, needs a look because there are cases where one child is 17 years and other child is 20 years. They have fallen in love. The law says consent of a minor is no consent. But I personally feel that this is an issue which needs to be looked into and needs to be addressed, needs to be flagged,” the judge said.

Justice Singh was speaking as a Chief Guest in a seminar organized by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights on “Rehabilitation of POCSO victims: Strategies, Challenges and Way Forward.”

“One of the most important issues which I feel needs to be seen, needs to be looked is adolescent love. Now what happens is, today we have criminalized sexual acts with children below 18 years. Now adolescents are children who want to experiment, who would be sexually active. Now, is a person who is between 16 to 18 years, where one of the child is 18 and other child is 19 years, can they be equated with the same brush or can they be equated in the same scenario where a victim is of 18 years and the the offender is about 30 or 35 years? So adolescence is something which needs to be looked at,” Justice Singh said.

Speaking about the aspect of rehabilitation of child survivors who have been subjected to sexual violence, Justice Singh said that while a lot has been done towards rehabilitation, a lot needs to be done further.

“POCSO is an Act which is not only punitive but also assures affirmative action. On one end you have imprisonment which can extend to life, but on the other hand, it also concentrates on granting compensation to the victim. But generally what happens is that once the case comes to an end, that is the time when compensation is granted to the survivor. So, that kind of loses or derails because rehabilitation or compensation is required not at the end of the process, but sometime in between or at the beginning of the rehabilitation process,” the judge said.

Referring to one of the judgments delivered by him in October last year titled x v. State, Justice Singh said:

“The Delhi High Court in one of its judgment of X v. State has said that interim compensation needs to be paid at the time when the chargesheet is filed. That is a step forward but how it needs to be taken forward is by the executing agencies.”

Furthermore, the judge said that another aspect which needs attention is those cases where the accused is either a family member or a person who exercises control over the child survivor.

“This is an aspect which needs attention because the accused is more often than not in a position to groom the child. So that often results in acquittal, the witnesses become hostile, the trial takes takes a huge period of time. So this is again, one issue which when we talk about rehabilitation, all these issues need to be addressed,” he said.

Justice Singh added: “What happens in a trial is that the counsel for the accused has a duty to perform. He has to be honest to his client who's the accused, so his effort is to prove that the survivor is either lying or is exaggerating the incident or the incident did not happen. So that results in kind of re-traumatization or reliving the whole incident by the survivor This again is something which needs to be addressed because the criminal justice system requires the survivor to be cross examined. The child has to be cross examined. The counsel for the accused has to try and prove that. So these are issues which which are plaguing the system but needs to be addressed. I am sure as we move forward, things would be done in this direction.”

Emphasising further that the child survivor needs to be integrated back into the society, Justice Singh said that affirmative action is most important and that the importance of victimology must be recognised.

“What I feel we have kind of in all these cases tried and interacted with the survivor also in chambers. So what they actually are looking for is a voice. They want to be brought back into the society, it needs to be told that yes a wrong has been done. It needs to be told that yes, you have been wronged. It has to be recognized. So this is again, something the society, the surroundings, the family members need to be more sensitized, need to be more aware of the issue that actually the child feels that the child has been wronged and that needs to be recognized,” Justice Singh said.

He added: “DCPCR is an essential key in creating awareness, in taking cognizance of the complaints which have been received, taking suo motu cognizance, ensuring that the child gets counselling because that according to me is one of the most important features of rehabilitation process. And they are in fact in touch with children directly or indirectly through staff, teachers, child lines, NGOs. They are in fact the first line of rehabilitation process. They have done a tremendous job, their efforts are laudable and they should continue doing the good work they are doing.”

Also Read: [POCSO Act] They Are ‘Survivors’ And Not ‘Victims’ Of Sexual Offences, Focus Must Be On Children’s Rehabilitation: Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju